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Foothills fire into playoffs on winning note

With one eye on the playoffs Foothills FC put an exclamation point on a dream regular season.
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Foothills FC’s Carlos Patino hurdles over a tackle from Seattle Sounders defender Scott Menzies.

With one eye on the playoffs Foothills FC put an exclamation point on a dream regular season. Moses Danto scored twice, Marco Carducci picked up the clean sheet as the Northwest Division champions blanked Seattle Sounders 2-0 in the Premier Development League season finale, Saturday afternoon at Foothills Composite field. “We always like to focus on what the next task ahead of us is,” said Foothills FC captain Dominick Zator. “We have that in the back of our minds, playoffs next week, but we know we have to get through this game. “It’s a good way to get us going for the playoffs. They came out strong, gave us a good test. Playoffs, it’s not going to be easy so this is a good last game to have before we go out there.” The Sounders – needing a result to stay alive in the race for the wild-card —had the better of play in a goalless first-half, using the press to force Foothills out of possession If the first-half was uneventful, the second more than made up for it. Within three minutes of the restart, the Sounders found themselves down a man when defender Nathan Aune was red-carded for making a goalie save with his hands to prevent a surefire goal from Danto. Elijah Adekugbe had the subsequent penalty kick stopped off the post and Danto fired the rebound over the net. Five minutes later the prolific striker atoned for the miss, showcasing his sublime aerial ability to fire a powerful header off a Carlos Patino cross into the back of the net in the 53rd minute. “That was a huge momentum for us,” said Zator of the red card. “They started opening up more gaps being one man down. We finally started to get in our rhythm, able to play around and we felt comfortable after that.” Seattle’s troubles were compounded in the 73rd minute when midfielder Philip Lund was sent-off for a rash challenge on Foothills’ Joel Waterman. Danto added another tally for good measure in stoppage time, increasing his totals to a division high 11 goals on the season. Foothills picked up its eighth clean sheet of the season in the victory, ending the 14-game regular season slate with just seven goals against. “You’ve got to give credit to Darren (Sawatzky)’s Sounders. I think we’ve got the hex on them because we’ve got nine in a row,” said Foothills FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. “You feel for them because they got two sent-off, but they play competitive and when you play on the bubble it makes it hard. “They were chasing the wild card and it made it meaningful for our boys.” The Foothills Fortress at the Comp saw the team end the year unbeaten at home with five wins and two ties. In four seasons in the PDL, Foothills has just one loss at home, ironically enough to the Sounders. “The biggest thing is our team chemistry, everybody fights for each other,” Zator said. “We just want to work, make sure we get results and there’s nothing better than playing in front of your home crowd. “So far it’s worked out for the last four years.” To celebrate the Northwest Division banner, the team posed for pictures with family, friends, longstanding supporters including the Foot Soldiers in what coach Wheeldon Jr. called ‘the team behind the team.’ The attention now shifts to California, the site of the Western Conference finals from July 20-22. The knockout format features the conference’s three division winners; Foothills, Colorado Rapids, the host FC Golden State Force and the yet-to-be-determined wild-card entry. The conference winner moves on to the PDL semifinal on July 28 and from there the PDL championship on Aug. 4. “Whoever we get in the semifinal we’re going to put one hundred per cent of our attention on them and then we will prepare for what’s next,” the coach added. Foothills will look to build upon its surprise run to the 2016 PDL final, minus the element of surprise. “Two years ago, nobody expected us to be there,” Zator said. “It was one of those Cinderella stories where we were the underdog and always wanted to prove people wrong. “This year we know we have a strong team and we also want to prove to people that we have the capability and the players around to pull something like this off. With the record we have, we’re flying and we want to keep that momentum going and hopefully make it all the way.” For more information go to foothillsfc.ca


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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